Hope for democracy?

Wow. This would outstanding if this holds true. And if Mugabe will honor the results or if the opposition will challenge his efforts to resist them.

Zimbabwe opposition claims a big victory

It's amazing to me how much liberal democratic values take flower even as illiberal forces are on the move.

Which values will prevail, ultimately, regardless of the outcome of this election? I'll let you think on that one.

American international policy in the 21st century

The Economist does a nice review of the problems in American foreign policy with the next Presidency.

After Bush

Many of the polarized political problems the Economist cites would settle out with a more honest, engaged, and thoughtful public political discussion. I have ideas about international security policy that attempts to transcend these schims to make empirical, thoughtful policy analysis and formulation independent of ideology, while drawing upon strengths in liberal and conservative ideology and within the best of liberal democratic thought.

But is interesting how the multilateral nature of most issues we face mean policy options that cannot be dominated by any one player and even options that multiple players will find very difficult to dominate in tandem. We have been learning that the hard way during this period. We have much learning to go, I'm quite confident.

The problems that liberal democracies and illiberal and undemocratic nations of the world face will involve, as always, greater commitments to our strongest liberal democratic values - especially our commitment to honest, engaged, thoughtful, open-minded and open-hearted discussion - not weaker substitutes. We have been settling for poorer substitutes these last 7-8 years. And they have had consequences. And we are responsible for those consequences, whether anyone has the courage to take responsibility for those consequences or not.

May we learn those lessons sooner rather than later.

Ending the war

I have to say that I still find this a more persuasive case for what will occur in case of a pullout.

How Not the End the War

But what really matters is not what I think, but what those Iraqi and American troops and governing officials think, since they are both closer to the action and more likely to have an idea of what the Iraqi military is ready to handle on their own or not. That is whom we should be talking with and listening to, which is why I largely agree with Max Boot's assesssment, here.

It is amazing, I must say, watching the course of this war, how the oldest democracy in the world ignores more genuine liberal democratic principles in the name of liberal democracy. All of us. Illiberalism serves to abate our fears. And it is now and always an illusion. And this war should demonstrate that fact better than any other political fact we face, right now.

If we could only be honest with ourselves about that fact.